


The Realm of Imagination

by Shadowswept



Category: None - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Fantasy, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 11:30:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4433864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowswept/pseuds/Shadowswept
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Melanie loves romance novels, but how will she react when she's suddenly living in one? What will she do when she comes face to face with her favorite fictional man?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 4

 

Melanie looked into clear blue eyes that watched her with innocent concern. Her gaze shifted to the scowling man standing behind Sarah.

"Do you have a medical problem we should be aware of?" he snapped.

"She had a shock," Sarah protested softly.

"She barely knows Candace," he retorted tersely.

"It's my fault," Melanie said. "I made this happen."

"What are you talking about?" Derek demanded impatiently. "How could you make it happen?"

"I'm not supposed to be here," she stated sadly. "I don't belong in this world."

"Are you suicidal?" he asked, sounding annoyed rather than sympathetic. "Because of your lousy husband? Get over it already, because I don't need to deal with this right now."

"Mr. Montgomery!" Sarah exclaimed in a horrified tone.

He softened his hard expression for her benefit. "I'm sorry. We're all stressed out about Candace."

"It'll be okay," she told him sweetly. "I just know it will."

Her earnest expression elicited a brief smile from him. "I hope so."

Melanie sat up carefully on the couch in his office, wondering how she'd gotten there.

"Mr. Montgomery carried you in here," Sarah informed her, answering her unspoken question.

Melanie glanced at him in embarrassment. He'd easily carried Sarah in one passage in the book, but she weighed considerably more than the slim young woman. "Thank you," she said.

"Call me Derek," he said, and she saw that he was speaking to Sarah.

"Okay, Mr. Montgomery...uh, Derek." Sarah looked uncomfortable saying his name, like she was breaking some rule.

Melanie had no problem with ditching protocol. "Thanks, Derek. Do you want me to train Sarah on her job?"

"The receptionist job?" he inquired. "Do you have any experience in that?"

"I know what to do," Sarah assured them. "I've filled in on receptionist jobs before. Would you like some coffee Mr., um, Derek? Uh, Miss..."

"I'm Melanie," she told her when Sarah trailed off uncertainly. "Yes, I'd like some coffee. Lot's of cream. Thanks."

"Yeah, thanks," Derek said when Sarah gave him a questioning look. "I'll have mine black."

The girl appeared relieved to go off on her task.

"That's Sarah," Melanie noted.

Derek turned from watching her walk away. "That's right. You did mention a Sarah yesterday. But she didn't seem to know you. How do you know her?"

She had decided that she wanted to wake up now, because she was afraid that this dream was becoming a nightmare. Nobody was supposed to get hurt in this fantasy world. It was a fun romance, and Candace wasn't supposed to be in the hospital.

"She's a character in my favorite romance novel," Melanie blurted in the hope that speaking it aloud would jolt her back into consciousness. "So are you. She's the sweet, innocent girl, and you're the hot alpha male. I've read your story a few times, and I know everything about both of you."

His lips quirked into a rueful smile. "We should put you in our marketing department. Alright, Miss Thomas. We'll get to work."

"Call me Melanie," she told him sourly, disappointed that she had no effect on him nor the dream.

When Sarah returned with their coffee, she had no effect on him either. He thanked her politely and failed to hold her gaze like he did in the book. It was all wrong, Melanie thought. Derek was too distracted by his worry over Candace. Also, Sarah was supposed to be the one working closely with him as his assistant. Spending all that time together every day was what gave them the opportunity to fall in love.

Not that he was spending time with Melanie either. He made himself scarce after showing her the office where they kept the slush pile. Melanie pulled Passion Flower out of the sea of unread manuscripts. This was to be Sarah's discovery, and it would be the bestseller they would celebrate together later on in the book. In the meantime, its steamy sex scenes would encourage their own passion for each other as they edited it.

None of this was realistic, of course. It was a fantasy, glamorized version of the publishing world, and that was what made it so much fun. Spending every day being seduced by a man like Derek Montgomery was about as likely as being kidnapped by a gorgeous, irresistible sheik who would fall madly in love with you.

Another unlikely scenario occurred in Passion Flower--a cop falling in love with a suspect. Melanie had read supposed excerpts from the book in Passion's Surrender, but now she held the entire manuscript in her hands. She became engrossed in the story and lost track of time.

"Did you find it already?"

Melanie looked up and simply stared at Derek. He'd removed his tie and undone the top buttons of his dress shirt, and she pictured herself undoing the rest of them. It didn't help that she'd just been reading an erotic scene in the novel. Sarah would have been flustered and looked away, but Melanie held Derek's intense gaze.

He approached her with a drink in his hand that definitely wasn't coffee. "You missed lunch."

"Looks like you had a liquid lunch," she remarked.

"I needed something to take the edge off," he said.

Alcohol had the opposite effect on him, she knew. It brought out an aggressive, predatory side to him that had scared Sarah and driven them apart for awhile until he changed his lifestyle for her. Melanie, however, felt only excitement as she looked into his dark eyes.

"Do you like alpha males?" he asked her.

"Only the hot ones," she replied with a bawdy laugh.

He responded to her with a sinful smile. "Isn't that what you called me?"

"No," she retorted with a smirk. "You're not my type."

Derek moved behind her and placed his hands on the arms of her chair to swivel her around to face him. He was leaning down so close to her, and his proximity spiked her body temperature instantly. She smelled the alcohol on his warm breath as his mouth moved steadily toward hers.

"I'm not your type," she protested in a weak voice that gave away how much he affected her. "Sarah..."

He paused just as her breath hitched after that last word. She felt every word he spoke, because his lips were mere millimeters from hers. "A virgin is not what I need right now."

Melanie no longer cared if she should be here doing this. She didn't care if his lust for her was alcohol-induced, and that he was only using her for sex. He wanted her in this moment, and she sure as hell wanted him. After being sexually frustrated for months, she wasn't going to miss this opportunity to be with the sexiest man she had ever met.

Giving in to her desire, she grasped his head and pulled his mouth down on hers. He would have no chance to use any of his teasing, seductive tricks on her, because she was already seduced. His first kiss with Sarah in Passion's Surrender had been erotic but slow and gentle. He kissed Melanie with a raw and urgent ferocity that quite literally took her breath away.

"Oh!" a soft voice gasped.

They broke apart, but Sarah had already fled from the doorway. Derek didn't appear to be concerned about her seeing them. "Come home with me," he urged.

Melanie couldn't be bothered with appropriate office behavior either. "Okay," she agreed.

His wicked smile was definitely that of a predatory alpha male, and it thrilled her to the core. In real life, she would have found his attitude toward her insulting, and she would have turned a cold shoulder to him. Since this was her dream though, she obviously wasn't in the mood for flowers and candlelight.

They left the office together after Derek told Sarah that they were going to meet with a client, and that they would see her tomorrow. Melanie could tell that the young woman saw through the lie, because she avoided looking directly at them and appeared to be embarrassed as she murmured in assent.

Melanie felt no shame as she departed to go have sex with her fantasy man. He had an expensive car, of course, and lived in a fabulous penthouse apartment with amazing views of the city. None of that mattered to her, but she was shallow enough to revel in getting such a hot man into her bed--or his bed. Whatever, the bed was optional to her at this point.

She was too impatient to touch his body, so she yanked his shirt open, dislodging several buttons in her haste. It wasn't like he couldn't afford more shirts, she reasoned before stopping to stare at his perfect body.

Real people just didn't look like that. Sure, maybe some male models did, but not anybody in normal, everyday life. Yes, he was younger than her, but that five-year age difference couldn't account for their vastly different physiques. She forced herself not to stop him from revealing her imperfect body when he began to remove her blouse. It's just a dream, she kept reminding herself. Just a dream.

One advantage she had over the slim Sarah was larger breasts, and Derek apparently liked them, because he spent a long moment gazing at them after taking off her bra. He didn't touch them just yet, but they made contact with his hard chest when he pulled her into a passionate kiss.

Melanie knew what he was doing. She knew his technique of prolonging pleasure with lots of foreplay, but she couldn't wait. "I want you now," she told him as she grasped the bulge in his pants.

She stepped back and wantonly lifted her skirt to pull down her panties. The silky material slipped down her legs, and she stepped out of them. Suddenly losing her nerve with him watching her, she let the skirt fall back in place. He quickly closed the short distance between them and lifted it back up to touch her intimately.

He groaned as he slid a finger inside her. "You're so wet and ready."

Inflamed by his touch, she grasped him through his pants again. "Now," she insisted in a sultry tone.

He was the complete fantasy man who had looks, wealth, and a large penis. Not enormous, but large enough to intimidate the virginal Sarah the first time she saw it, which hadn't happened until halfway through the book.

Even Melanie had to adjust to his size when he laid her down on his bed and entered her. He moaned as he sank into her, and she gasped at the incredible sensation of fullness. After remaining still for a moment, he began to move within her, and every thrust seemed to hit her sweet spot.

"Yes," she exclaimed. "Oh yes!"

The pleasure was too intense, and she was already too aroused to be able to delay her orgasm. It came over her in a mind-blowing rush as she cried out in sexual release. She had never before climaxed from penetration alone, but it was effortless in this fantasy world. Derek kept going as her inner muscles spasmed around him as she came. His moan of ecstasy followed soon after, and he closed his eyes in the grip of ultimate physical pleasure. He rolled off her immediately upon opening his eyes afterwards.

Melanie lay beside him feeling completely sated and satisfied for awhile, but doubt soon unsettled her. If this was an erotic dream, then why hadn't it ended with the sex? She glanced over at Derek and saw that he had already resumed his brooding. The sex high didn't appear to have lasted long for either of them. Sarah might have been able to soften his sharp edges, but Melanie couldn't change him.

His difficult personality was his only flaw, but wasn't that how she liked him? It had brought drama to the plot and made the happy ending more satisfying after overcoming his resistance to love. When she had read the book, she'd known that he was falling in love with Sarah. Melanie had no idea how he was feeling now.

"I'm gonna go." She spoke hesitantly, testing out his mood.

"Okay," he answered flatly.

She hadn't expected a declaration of love, but she had thought that he'd at least show some warmth toward her after the intimacy they'd shared. He didn't even have a smile for her, and he remained silent as she rose from the bed to put on her clothes.

Melanie now felt as bad as when her husband rejected her. This wasn't how sex dreams were supposed to go. She wasn't supposed to deal with the aftermath of her actions this way. The sex had been as great as she had imagined it would be, but her emotions were in turmoil. 

She had just slept with a man she had met only yesterday--and he was her boss. If the situation were real, her life would be a complete mess. Reality wasn't so great for her at this point in her life either, but at least she knew who she was and what she was doing. She certainly didn't have one night stands with men she barely knew.

The worst part came when she realized that she didn't have enough money left in her purse to pay for a cab. The expression on Derek's face when she asked to borrow money from him made her feel completely degraded, like she was asking to be paid for sex. The mocking look in his eyes as he handed her the money set her off.

"You didn't care how much you spent on Sarah," she lashed out at him. "Taking her to all kinds of expensive restaurants, paying for 'business' trips all over the place, having flowers delivered to her apartment. Oh, and when you insisted that she had to go to the book signing in Paris with you and the author!"

His eyes now held a hint of wariness as he regarded her in exasperation. "What is your obsession with Sarah? I've never met the girl before today, so I don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't," she agreed bitterly. "Because I took her place. Only not really since you didn't bother wining and dining me. All I got was a quick fuck, which was subpar by the way."

"Really?" he retorted. "Is that why you came so fast and so hard?"

"I can't believe I thought your arrogance was sexy," she said angrily and stormed off toward the elevator.

Derek made no move to stop her from leaving, nor did he offer to drive her home. She fumed over his behavior during the entire cab ride and long into the evening. He had riled her up so badly that she spent most of the night in sleepless agitation, and she wasn't surprised to find herself still trapped in this seemingly endless dream upon waking after a too short slumber in her imaginary apartment.


	2. Chapter 5

Melanie drank an entire pot of coffee as she pondered her options. Now that she'd had sex with her fantasy man, she wondered what else she could do in this dream world. Would she be able to do something dangerous and heroic like fight off a bad guy? Or survive something truly impossible like jumping off the Empire State Building? Part of her was tempted to try, but she remembered the old myth about dying for real if you died in your dream. She wasn't reckless enough to test that one out.

Feeling completely untethered in this imaginary world, she was already beginning to cling to what was familiar. Also, money was a concern even here. She'd investigated her finances and discovered that she didn't have much in her savings. Ironically, she couldn't quit her job in her dream either. So she had to go to work regardless of her shame about what happened yesterday. She dreaded having to face Derek's smug arrogance at having gotten her into bed so quickly, but she decided to go in with a strictly professional attitude.

He was likely to turn his attention to Sarah now that he'd already seduced Melanie. She was therefore surprised by the heated look he gave her when she arrived. He had been focused on Sarah, but now he directed an intensely sexual gaze at Melanie that threatened to undo her self-protective resolve.

"Good morning," Sarah greeted Melanie in her soft, pleasant voice.

"Good morning," Melanie replied, struggling to keep her eyes only on Sarah.

The lovely girl with the sunny disposition radiated all the warmth that Derek lacked, and he was obviously charmed by her sweetness. That was in keeping with the plot of Passion's Surrender, but his unlikely attraction to Melanie was not. As he had said, she wasn't his type. Before Sarah, there had been a string of beautiful, sexy women. Melanie didn't fit into either category, so she hadn't been expecting him to want her again.

Derek immediately attempted to derail her plans to put in a productive day of work after telling Sarah to hold all his calls and shutting himself in his office with Melanie. He was upon her before she could blink, wreaking havoc on her overly responsive libido. She forcefully extricated herself from his wandering hands and glared at him. Her anger was directed as much toward herself for being attracted to such an arrogant jerk as it was toward him for being such an arrogant jerk.

His smug expression left no doubt about his conceit. "Now you're going to play hard to get? I already know that you want me."

"That was yesterday," she retorted. "Today--"

"Who are you today?" he interrupted her with a frosty smirk.

"You don't remember my name?" she asked indignantly.

"Your name is the only thing that wasn't a lie," he told her. "I'm curious about why you made up a cheating husband. And telling me that you've never had sex with another man. Did you think that was the way to seduce me?"

"What do you mean I made him up?" Melanie demanded. "We've been married for eighteen years."

"You've never been married," Derek stated. He took a sheaf of papers from his desk and handed it to her. "I've got the report right here. Fortunately, your resume checks out, although I've overlooked such things in the past in favor of certain other qualifications."

She was too distracted by her imaginary life to pay attention to what he was implying about her qualifications as an employee. The report showed the path she might have taken if she hadn't gotten pregnant in high school. Listed here was the college education she had wanted and several places where she would have preferred to work if she wasn't stuck in her factory job. According to this, she had no criminal record, no husband, and no children.

Strong arms encircled her waist to pull her back against a solid body. "You don't have to pretend you're taking revenge on a cheating husband. Just do what you came here to do."

A delicious shiver went through her as he spoke into her ear in a low, deep voice. She fought the temptation to take his advice, but she didn't know why. Her confusion about what was happening to her made it difficult to decide on a course of action. She was still convinced that it was all a dream, but it felt so real that it seemed like this was actually happening.

"I'm Melanie Novak," she stated aloud to remind herself of what was real. "Scott Novak is my husband, and Jason is our son. He's only been away at college for a month, but I miss him. The house feels so empty without him."

Dizziness suddenly overwhelmed her, and she swayed on unsteady feet. Derek tightened his grip on her as she struggled to keep her balance. She clung to his arm until her lightheadedness passed. "I'm okay now."

He helped her over to a chair, even though she could walk steadily on her own. "What's wrong with you?" he asked irritably.

"Other than not being able to wake up?" she inquired in a wry tone. "I don't know."

"You need to see a doctor," he snapped. "And a psychiatrist, apparently."

"I'm not crazy," she insisted. "I'm just having a really vivid, amazing dream. A really sexy dream," she added as she watched him bend over to pick up the papers she had dropped during her dizzy spell.

Melanie realized that it would be crazy to hold back in a dream and reject her fantasy man. She would wake up sooner or later, and she would probably never have a dream like this again. Her hands began to unbutton her blouse, and then she reminded herself that this was only a dream. So she ripped it open instead.

Derek looked at her with a bewildered expression when he saw her yanking off her clothes. She hurried toward him topless while struggling to remove her skirt. Despite her contrary behavior, he was ready for her, as she had known he would be. This was her fantasy after all.

She scrabbled to free his erection from his pants as he touched her breasts, giving them the attention they had been denied yesterday. The memory of how he had felt inside her spurned her to push him into a chair and straddle him. She held onto his shoulders as she raised herself over him with a look that prompted him to roughly rip off her panties, exciting her further. Moisture flooded her core in anticipation while he grabbed her hips to guide her down onto his shaft.

His grip on her tightened with his stifled groan, and he kept control of her, forcing her to yield to the pace he set as he slid her up and down the way he wanted. Just as she began to build toward her peak, he frustrated her by slowing down the pace. His fingers dug painfully into her flesh when she tried to speed up, and she again yielded to his control. He then stopped the rhythm completely as he leaned forward to suck on her nipple.

Melanie moaned softly, mindful of needing to be quiet but also very aroused by the forbidden aspect of having sex at work. She had never done something this wild before, and she forgot that she wasn't actually doing it now. The lines between fantasy and reality had begun to blur for her.

Derek released her nipple and pulled back to watch her with a wicked gleam in his dark eyes. "Ride me," he said and let go of her hips.

She gripped his shoulders firmly and moved at a steady, satisfying rhythm toward the release she craved. He thwarted her again right when she was getting close, and she whimpered in frustrated need. His tongued lathed first one nipple and then the other as he held her still with an iron grip. After an interminable amount of sexual teasing, he finally let her build toward her peak again. She had a hard time holding back the volume of her moans, and she bit her lip to keep from crying out as she came.

Derek hissed as her nails dug into his back, and he clamped his mouth tightly shut during his own orgasm. The stifled sounds he made sounded like low, animal grunts. He held onto her while he caught his breath, and he surprised her by kissing her deeply before helping her off his lap.

She felt really good until he ruined her mood with words. "You're better at this job than I thought you'd be."

"You should not talk," she snapped at him in annoyance. "Ever. Just sit there and look pretty."

"Really," he continued. "You give great personal assistance."

She knew why he cut women down this way after they slept with him. Sarah was the only woman he'd respected afterwards, and that was because she'd been a virgin.

"I'm sorry your mother disappointed you," Melanie told him. "But you're thirty-one years old, and it's time for you to grow up. Maybe you should look at yourself before--"

"What the fuck did you just say?" Derek cut in angrily as he shot up out of the chair and stalked toward her.

"I said you should look at yourself before judging the women you--"

"What did you say about my mother?" he demanded as he interrupted her again.

He was in her face now, and he looked truly menacing. Melanie had known about his demons, but this side of him had never come out in the book. He'd briefly spoken to Sarah about the incident with his mother and confessed that it had messed him up emotionally. His resistance to romantic relationships could be traced back to what had happened in the past with his mother.

Melanie feared him in that moment, but recklessness goaded her into opening Pandora's box. "You walked in on her with another man when you were twelve. I get that it was a traumatic experience for you, but you can't keep using that as an excuse to treat women like crap. We're all individuals, and--"

She yelped when he snatched her arms and pulled her up on her tiptoes as he lifted her closer to his face. "Who the fuck told you that?" He spoke in a tight, quiet tone that scared her more than if he would have shouted at her.

Melanie sensed that this was not the time to spout off about him being a character in a book. Only a reasonable explanation would save her now. "Your dad," she lied. "He told me."

If possible, his expression hardened even more. "Get dressed," he commanded her as he let her go.

She could practically feel the chill emanating from him as they dressed in silence. Not daring to speak to him again, she walked out of his office with downcast eyes when he opened the door for her. She heard it close behind her and knew that he hadn't followed her out.

Sarah averted her eyes as Melanie approached her, and it was pretty clear that she was aware of what had gone on in her boss's office. Melanie hoped that she hadn't actually heard them having sex but had only guessed the reason they'd secluded themselves in there. She felt bad about the girl's discomfort around her, but she couldn't change the situation.

She'd really made a mess of things, and now she'd embroiled Derek's father in all the drama. When the hell was this damn dream going to end?


	3. Chapter 6

Melanie used paper clips to tenuously close up her blouse and took a taxi home. She vowed never to be so reckless again, and she resolved to start fresh tomorrow. After stripping off her clothes, she realized that her ripped panties had been left behind in Derek's office. As she took a shower, she wondered if he had a desk drawer filled with such trophies. After she washing herself clean, she threw on her favorite lounging combo--sweatpants and a t-shirt.

She was flipping mindlessly through TV channels when she heard the doorbell ring. Assuming that someone had pressed the wrong button, she got up and spoke into the intercom. "Yes?"

"You always give me the right answer," Derek remarked. "Buzz me in," he ordered mildly.

Curious about why he was there, she let him in. Her heart skittered when she opened the door and saw his sultry, heavy-lidded gaze. She stepped back to allow him entrance and closed the door after he walked into her apartment.

"You left during work hours," he said, but there was no accusation in his voice.

"So did you," she retorted lightly, since he appeared not to be angry with her anymore.

"You're a bad influence," he commented in a playful, flirty tone.

She marveled at the change in his demeanor until he stepped closer, and she smelled the alcohol on his breath. "You've been drinking," she noted.

"Yes," he confirmed. "But now I need something else."

She backed away from him, but he advanced on her. "I want to keep things professional," she told him.

"You mean you only want to have sex at work?" he teased.

"That wasn't me," she said.

"Who was it?" he asked before attempting to kiss her.

She turned her mouth away from him. "I don't normally act that way."

"I'm not complaining," he assured her. "That was sexy as hell!"

"And inappropriate," she added.

"But it excited you," he said. "You like living on the edge as much as I do."

"No," she countered. "That's not how I am at all. I was just living out a fantasy."

He reached out and caressed her cheek in a surprisingly tender move. "Then I volunteer to help you live out your fantasies."

"What happened to me not being your type?" she asked. "Or is being your assistant all it takes?"

"My father seems to think so," he remarked. "He confirmed your story, told me that he planted you in my office and gave you all the information you needed to hook me."

"He said that I'm a hooker?" Melanie exclaimed in outrage.

Derek's eyes lit up in amusement. "You did ask me for money the first time."

She could tell that he was just teasing, so her anger cooled. "A gentleman would have offered to drive me home."

"If you wanted a gentleman, you wouldn't have picked me." The tone of his voice combined with the sweep of his finger over her lips accelerated her heartbeat.

His gaze locked with hers, and his expression changed back into the one he'd had when she opened the door to him. She'd never seen such a blatantly sexual look before.

"You asked me about my type," he said, but his tone of voice affected her more than the words he was speaking. "I'm finding out you can't judge a book by its cover."

That ended the conversation, because he chose to kiss her rather than continue talking. It was exactly like the slow, erotic first kiss he'd shared with Sarah in Passion's Surrender. Melanie soon stopped comparing this experience to what she'd read in the book and surrendered to the exquisite sensations she felt.

She yielded to his penchant for extended foreplay and forgot her insecurities about her physical appearance as he removed her clothes and found long-neglected erogenous zones on her body. He elicited loud moans from her just by kissing a spot on her back that made her squirm helplessly with the unexpected, almost too intense pleasure concentrated there. She wanted to reciprocate and explore his body too, but she was literally weak with desire by the time he finished his skilled sensual onslaught. Melanie watched him in a languid state of arousal as he prepared to thrust into her.

He was beyond sexy with his dark, lust-filled eyes and tousled black hair. His intense, erotic expression turned her on as much as anything that he could do to her with his hot, perfect body. In the next instant, he overwhelmed her with the pleasure of both as he locked his sultry gaze on her while filling her core. She closed her eyes in sweet ecstasy.

"Look at me," he urged in a passion-roughened voice.

Melanie obliged him and kept her gaze fixed on him as he kept up a steady pace while thrusting into her. She started to feel embarrassed by his scrutiny, her insecurity about herself flaring beneath the pressure of unrelenting eye contact. She closed her eyes to escape into herself.

"Look at me."

Her eyes snapped open at his rough command.

"Keep looking at me as you come," he ordered.

It was very uncomfortable at first. She felt completely exposed to him and emotionally vulnerable to his raw, intense examination of her expression. Yet the erotic connection was a huge turn on as she neared her climax. She moaned unashamedly, letting him hear and see her pleasure as she looked directly into his eyes. The strain showed on her face as she struggled to keep her eyes open in the grip of her orgasm. Her mouth opened wide with the gasping intensity of her cries.

"Oh fuck yeah," Derek cried out as he came.

Like clockwork, he immediately rolled off her, but he gave her arm a quick caress before pulling his hand back. 

He had a satisfied smile on his face, and Melanie relaxed beside him. She realized how much she had missed this, not just the sexual satisfaction but the contentment of relaxing together afterwards. Sharing a snack used to be common for her and Scott after sating their sexual hunger.

"Did you have lunch?" she asked Derek.

"Only a liquid lunch, as you call it," he replied.

"I'll make us something," she offered and got up.

She automatically put on a fresh pair of underwear but only threw on a robe to cover the rest of her nakedness. Leaving him lounging on the bed, she went into the kitchen and turned on the coffeemaker first. Then she looked in the fridge and decided on bacon and eggs. She doubted that Derek would stick around long enough for her to cook an actual meal. Arranging the bacon on a cookie sheet while she preheated the oven, she considered asking him how he wanted his eggs but was reluctant to disturb him just yet. She had time for that after she put the bacon in the oven, because she would make the eggs last.

She was reaching up into the cabinet when she heard him speak behind her. "So what exactly is the plan?"

His insolent tone of voice clued her in to his change in attitude, and she hesitated before taking the two coffee cups from the cabinet. She should have known that it wouldn't be that easy, and that his perspective couldn't change that quickly. His quicksilver moods were tempered by Sarah in the book, but Melanie didn't have her delicate nature and patience. She took a calming breath before turning to face him.

His arrogant expression didn't make it easy to keep her cool, and the fact that he was fully dressed while she was wearing only a bathrobe made her feel like she was unequal footing with him . She was used to being treated with respect and consideration by the men she worked with in the factory. "What plan are you referring to?" She succeeded in speaking in an even tone.

"My father's plan," he clarified sarcastically. "The one he recruited you for. What is the goal exactly, besides fucking my brains out?"

"That shouldn't take long," she retorted.

The gleam in his eyes was her only warning before he pounced. "Let's find out."

He seized her and spun her around, grabbing her hands and placing them flat on the countertop. "Don't move," he ordered before letting go.

Even though they'd had sex only twenty minutes earlier, she felt the thrill of anticipation. Of course, being a fantasy man, Derek was insatiable for his woman. It jolted her momentarily when she thought of herself as his woman, but here he was with her--again.

He undid the sash on her robe and pulled it down her shoulders and off her arms before placing her hands back down on the countertop as she stood there in only her panties. He suddenly yanked them down her legs and directed her to step out of them. Her heart raced in excitement, and she moaned at his touch when his hands came around to cup her breasts while his fingers played with her nipples. One hand moved down between her legs and rubbed the sensitive little nub while his other hand tweaked her left nipple. She arched her back against him, but he lightened the pressure of his touch to tease her. Growing impatient, she reached behind her for his erection.

He stepped back out of her reach. "I said don't move. Put your hands back on the counter."

"We're in my apartment," she reminded him. "You're not my boss here."

"Do you want me to leave?" he asked, and she heard the mocking tone in his voice.

She debated with herself while he waited silently behind her. It was easier to acquiesce to his demands when she didn't have to see the smug expression she knew was on his face right now. He kept taking control of the sex, but she wanted it regardless, and he knew it. Wordlessly, she gripped the counter.

"Flat down like they were," he commanded brusquely.

She didn't want to think about why her fantasy involved giving him total control or why it turned her on so much. He'd also taken the lead in the sexual encounters described in the book, but that was because Sarah was shy and inexperienced. Even so, his dominating personality hadn't come out to this degree.

Melanie obeyed his command and placed her hands flat down on the counter. She heard him unzipping his pants, but he made her wait so long that she turned her head to see what he was doing.

"Don't move," he barked. "Face forward."

Kinky dream she thought wryly as she felt a twitch in her nether lips at his terse order. He continued to make her wait, but she obediently held her position as she waited in tense anticipation for his next move. Conversely, her arousal heightened the longer she waited for him to touch her.

He finally slipped his hand between her legs, and she realized that he was crouching behind her. "Do you want it?" he asked in a rough, low voice as he glided a finger into her slick opening.

She moaned in response.

"What was that?" he demanded as he removed his finger.

"Yes," she exclaimed in a pleading tone.

He stood up and grasped her hips. She was pretty sure that the logistics of this position shouldn't have worked for them, but anything was possible in a dream. Derek effortlessly joined their bodies and started pounding into her, bringing her quickly to the edge. She came so hard that she screamed. Her breathing was still erratic when Derek reached his own orgasm a couple of minutes later.

He let go of her hips and pulled away from her even as he was still breathing heavily from the exertion of screwing her brains out. That was exactly what it felt like to Melanie as she remained in position with her hands pressed firmly down on the counter and her head lowered with the depletion of her energy after that explosive orgasm.

It had been many years since she'd had sex three times in one week, let alone in one day. She finally roused herself and moved on wobbly legs to retrieve her panties from the floor where Derek had kicked them aside. Collapsing onto a kitchen chair, she started putting them on.

She was a sexually sated as she had ever been, and her only desire now was the coffee he had prevented her from drinking. After several moments of resting on the chair, she stood up to finish pulling up her panties.

Derek walked back into the room. "Don't wear those to work tomorrow," he said, his eyes on her panties.

"I change my underwear every day," she informed him indignantly.

"I meant don't wear any," he clarified.

"We can't keep having sex at work," she protested.

"Who's going to stop us?" he questioned. "I'm the boss, as you know," he added with a smirk.

"I'm not going to work without underwear," she insisted, ignoring his snide reference to her submission to him.

"No panties," he told her. "That's an order."

"I know you're good at taking orders," he continued before she could protest again. "I'll have a suit delivered to you this evening."

"A suit?" she asked, confused by his change of subject.

"Yes," he answered with a hint of the sexual look he'd seduced her with earlier. "You'll look proper and professional, but underneath..."

Melanie was deeply troubled by his new demand. It had never entered her mind to go out without underwear. This was definitely not her fantasy, so why was it part of her sex dream? She had the crazy thought that it was Derek's fantasy, but how could it be when he didn't exist?


	4. Chapter 7

The suit arrived that evening as promised. It was a classic navy blue blazer and skirt, and a plain white blouse was also delivered with it. Melanie tried it on and gazed at herself in the mirror. It made her look like a professional, accomplished career woman. She knew immediately that she would wear it to work the following day, but she still had to decide if she would obey Derek's command.

Nothing that happened in a dream mattered, but she was starting to feel like it did. The sex with Derek was the best she'd ever had, which befitted a fantasy. She could just cater to all his wishes and enjoy the rewards of sex with no consequences. There was no necessity for boundaries in this dreamworld. She could lose all her inhibitions and try absolutely anything here.

Passion's Surrender was a romance, but Melanie's version of it was turning out to be erotica. She was getting all the sex she could possibly want, but she was no longer sure if that was all she wanted. By the time she went to sleep late that night, she had made up her mind and would not be second-guessing herself.

Feeling wide awake despite not getting much sleep, she was excited to see Derek's reaction. She showered again, although she had showered last night. Her expensive perfume was a splurge from the day she had gone shopping on a whim. She'd also bought several pairs of sexy panties, including a thong. She considered them for a moment before sticking with her decision.

As a final concession to Derek's fantasy of the prim exterior hiding a sex kitten, Melanie put her brunette hair up in a bun. He hadn't specified anything about her shoes, so she wore comfortable flats. His attention probably wouldn't be on her feet anyway.

Derek's cocky, smug smile when he saw her wearing the suit was proof that he had expected nothing but complete submission from her. She therefore delighted in thwarting his efforts to verify her compliance to all his wishes.

"Let's grab lunch later," she said to Sarah before he could speak.

"Um okay," Sarah replied, too polite to reject Melanie's overture.

"I need to see you in my office," Derek told her coolly.

"I'm sorry," Melanie apologized insincerely. "I have a meeting with Mr. Montgomery right now. Senior," she added to clarify that it was with his father.

Derek's displeasure at this news was obvious on his face, but he made no comment on it. "Come see me afterwards."

She would use every excuse she could to keep him waiting, but the meeting was real. Mr. Montgomery had called her the previous evening and requested that she meet with him in his office first thing in the morning. She could guess the reason for it, and she wondered if he was going to fire her.

"May I ask what this is about?" she had inquired.

"I prefer to speak in person," he'd replied.

Now she rode the elevator to the top floor of the building to do just that. She knew about his reliable receptionist, Eleanor, from reading about her in the book. Derek had taken Sarah up here to announce their engagement to his father. They'd just gotten back from their trip to Paris, and he couldn't wait until the end of the workday to share his happiness.

Of course, his relationship with his father was no longer strained by that point in the book. Melanie had no such affect on Derek's emotional state, because their connection was only physical. She didn't have much time to contemplate how much her arrival had altered the course of events before the elevator stopped on the top floor.

She exited directly into the reception area and was greeted by Eleanor. Melanie was glad to be dressed more professionally than the last time Mr. Montgomery had seen her. He smiled in welcome at her, but his eyes appraised her, although in a different way than his son's perusal of her physical assets. This man was assessing her character, and she wasn't sure what assumptions he made about her.

He bade her to sit down and got right to the point. "You've managed to upset Derek. He hasn't been that riled up in a long time."

"I'm sorry," Melanie said. "I didn't mean to upset him."

"No, that's a good thing," he assured her. "He's too cavalier about everything, so it's great to see someone get under his skin."

Since he appeared not to be angry with her, she dared to ask her question. "Why did you cover for me?"

"For the same reason I hired you," he explained. "His life has become stagnant, and he needs someone to shake him out of it and challenge him to move forward."

She thought that he could be speaking of her life as well.

"You're a bit older than his other assistants were," he continued. "And I assume that you're more mature and not so easily dazzled by him."

Melanie hoped that she was succeeding in keeping her expression neutral, that the look on her face didn't betray that she had already slept with Derek.

Fortunately, Mr. Montgomery seemed to be distracted by his own concerns. "How did you know about what happened with his mother?"

She had prepared her answer, as she had known that he would ask. "I'm friends with one of his exes," she lied, sure that Mr. Montgomery didn't know that Derek had never confided that sordid detail to anyone.

He accepted her explanation as she had guessed that he would. "I see. And does she know that you're now working for him?"

"Yes," she replied, making up this portion of the story on the spot. "She's married now, so..."

He nodded in agreement, although she hadn't finished her thought. "She's moved on with her life, but he's still living like he did a decade ago."

She kept silent, knowing that he wouldn't really want her to agree with him aloud in his criticism of Derek's lifestyle. She sure didn't like it when anyone made negative comments about her son.

"My son is not quite the immature idiot he acts like he is," he said. "A man in his position attracts gold diggers, but he mistrusts the motives of every woman he meets and won't give anyone a real chance."

"Why doesn't he just date rich women?" Melanie asked, since this had never been mentioned in the book.

"Power," Mr. Montgomery answered immediately. "He wants to be in control and have everything on his terms."

Her face flushed, and she looked down in embarrassment.

"But I didn't call you up here to talk about his personal life," Mr. Montgomery stated. 

Regaining her composure, she glanced at him. "Derek said that I'm part of your plan, but he didn't know what it was."

Instead of enlightening her, he questioned her about working with Derek. "What do you think about his instincts? Has he shown you any promising manuscripts?"

He hadn't even looked at a manuscript since she'd been hired, but she didn't tell his father that. "There's one that I think will be a bestseller."

"What does Derek think about it?" he asked.

Choosing not to mention that he hadn't looked at it yet, she answered vaguely. "It's a romance, so you know."

"Romance is the most profitable genre in the industry," he stated briskly. "Remind him of that the next time he belittles it." 

"Yes sir," she replied.

She ignored Derek's directive to come to his office after her meeting and went to work on editing Passion Flower. Derek startled her an hour later when he angrily burst into the office where they kept the unsolicited manuscripts.

"What are you doing?" he snapped at her.

"My job," she retorted just as tersely.

"Did he lecture you on your work ethic?" he jeered at her. "Or is your new plan to deny me what I want?"

"You sound like a spoiled kid," she told him.

"Did you forget that I'm your boss?" he demanded.

"Did you forget that you're running a business? How are you so successful if you never work?" she grumbled.

"My office. Now," he commanded sternly while fixing her with a hard expression.

She yielded to his dominance and stood up to follow him back to his office. He hooked his fingers beneath her chin and tilted it up to force her gaze toward his. "You've been a bad girl making me wait for you. I might have to punish you and deny you what you want. Unless..."

He lowered his mouth, and she parted her lips for him. His breath made them tingle in anticipation, but he pulled back. "You behave and do exactly what I tell you to do."

Taking it for granted that she would follow his orders now, he turned and walked out of the room. She was like his silent shadow behind him until they entered his office and he shut the door to afford them privacy.

Derek sat down behind his desk and pushed his chair back. "Take off the blazer and come here," he directed her.

Melanie removed her blazer and draped it over one of the chairs facing his desk before walking slowly toward him to position herself between him and the desk. One thing she couldn't control was her body's reaction to him, and he smiled lasciviously when he saw that her erect nipples were clearly visible through the thin material of the white blouse.

"I knew you wouldn't wear a bra," he said.

She stood completely still as he lifted her knee-length skirt high enough to reach beneath it and touch her most private spot. He was watching her face while he did it, so she could see his smirk change to a scowl.

"I gave you simple instructions," he scolded her crossly.

"Sorry," she replied flippantly. "I guess they were too complicated for me, since intelligence isn't one of my qualifications."

He felt around between her legs. "What the fuck are you wearing?"

She couldn't hold back her smirk. "Bicycle shorts."

Apparently, she bought exercise gear she never used even in her imaginary life. She'd found them when she'd rummaged through her closet that first day, and she'd remembered them last night while she was debating what she should wear or not wear.

"Take them off," he demanded as he pulled his hand out from under her skirt.

"No," she stated defiantly.

His mouth twisted into that cruel sneer. "Don't play games with me. I can easily find someone to replace you."

"Go ahead," she urged. "I don't care who you sleep with, but I'll file sexual harassment charges against you if you fire me."

She held herself with dignity as she stared him down. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to do the work I was hired to do."

Melanie turned her attention away from him as she moved past him and retrieved her blazer. She put it on and buttoned it before walking out of his office. She hadn't felt this empowered in a long time. In her daydreams she was an assertive, confident woman, but that wasn't her nature in real life. She realized that she could be the person she wanted to be in this world her sleeping mind had created, because she was ultimately in control here.


End file.
